


Blaze and the Nest-Hair Man

by ShadowRen



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gingerrose child, Gingerrose through the eyes of a porg, Hux being Hux, Porglets, Pregnancy, bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25479406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowRen/pseuds/ShadowRen
Summary: Blaze the porg is very fond of the kind Soft-Hand, who feeds him and his friends, talks to them, and is overall the nicest human he's ever met.When she brings back her new orange-haired friend, Blaze realises he doesn't like him very much at all. Nest-Hair, as he's come to call him, seems to feel the same way.In other words, Gingerrose as seen through the eyes of our little support porg, plus a little feud between a pint-sized bird and a former General of the First Order.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico
Comments: 14
Kudos: 44





	Blaze and the Nest-Hair Man

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a little piece I've been working on for the past few months in small fits and bursts. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get myself to sit down and write for quite a while, and most of my other written works may not see updates for a while yet. I hope to get over it eventually, but for now please enjoy this bit of fluff!
> 
> CW: Pregnancy at the end of the oneshot. It's short, barely more than a sentence, but it's there. Also, there is some self-depreciating talk typical of our ginger General.

Blaze hopped merrily along the rim of the round metal table, softly trilling a little song as he flapped about. He could hear his fellow porgs joining him with their own renditions from the little corners of their big shiny playground and home.

It wasn’t exactly the same as his old home in the cooling rock crevices next to the sea where plenty of fish awaited him, but staying here meant he got to see the sparkly lights every time she and her friends brought their metal home flying. He never understood how something so big could actually glide through the sky so easily, at speeds he could only dream of.

When it came to food, he often hunted for his own if there was water nearby. If there wasn’t or if there were dangerous monsters in the water, the nice woman with the gloves would feed him and his friends some of their food. Sometimes it was bits of dry meat, which he wasn’t very fond of, and other times it might be sweet, refreshing fruit. He always liked it when she was around, though, because when she took her gloves off to feed them, she always gave them a pat on the head with a very soft hand.

Soft-Hand had not been around for a while, replaced instead by the big hairy giant who also lived in the big metal bird. He was not very fond of the giant, remembering how he had almost been eaten by it when the humans first came to their island, but food was food, and if the giant didn’t seem to want to eat them anymore, he was alright with that.

His uncle Crow seemed to like the giant just fine (apparently it had helped him and his mate line their nest a few moons ago), which assuaged Blaze’s fear slightly. He still missed the nice woman, though. He wondered where she had gone.

“To think that this ship still flies. If it was causing trouble for the Empire in its prime, it should have ended up in a scrap heap years ago.”

Blaze paused his dance and song at the sound of a voice he had never heard before, followed by a much more familiar voice.

“I thought it used to cause you a lot of problems too, Hux. You were ranting about it to me all throughout this past year over our communications.”

Soft-Hand entered the room, followed by a much taller man with hair the same colour as the feathers along the sides of Blaze’s head. It looked very smooth. Blaze wondered if it would make a nice nest like the soft blue moss that Uncle Crow had in his. He wondered if the man was nice too, if he was with the nice woman. He seemed sort of stiff and rather unhappy about something. The only way Blaze could describe his face was that it looked like a really angry shark about to eat the first thing that came near its mouth. It didn’t help that he was dressed in full black like something waiting to trap and eat little porgs like Blaze when nighttime came.

That train of thought was quickly replaced by excitement at seeing her back home, and Blaze hopped off the table towards her, squawking his greetings as he always had — only to receive a boot to the face as he got flung across the room.

“Hux!”

Soft-Hand was by Blaze’s side in seconds, gently rubbing away the pain as she shot back at the man. “What did you have to do that for? He was just saying hello!”

“They’re disease-bearing pests, Tico. May I again express my surprise at how this junkyard ship still flies with such poor maintenance? Actually, you’re the one maintaining this ship, aren’t you? I thought you of all people would know how to properly maintain a ship.”

“Now listen here, Former General Pompous—”

Blaze tuned out the rest of their heated argument, settling instead to squawk angrily at the mean man at the top of his lungs. He was definitely not nice.

———————————————————————————————

Blaze woke up to find the little hole in the wall where he slept half blocked off by something black and shiny. Strange. The nice woman knew where he and all his friends slept, and was always careful not to block their entrances and exits.

No matter. He could still fit through the remaining gap, even if it took a little squeezing through. 

As he pulled himself through the hole, the uneven edge of the hole scraped uncomfortably along his back. He realised that he recognised the offending item — the boot that had kicked him across the room yesterday.

Sure enough, when he looked up, there was the rest of the mean nest-hair man. His eyes were closed, and he seemed a little less stiff than he did yesterday. It took Blaze a little while to realise that he was asleep, the only indication being the slight tilt of his head to the side.

Blaze certainly had not forgotten the pain from yesterday, and decided to fly up to the top of the couch where Nest-Hair’s head lay. He settled into the bright orange hair for a few seconds, confirming that it was indeed quite soft and comfy, before deciding that it was time for a little payback.

He couldn’t exactly kick Nest-Hair with his thin little feet, so Blaze settled for chomping a tuft of the orange hair, and yanked it backwards with all his might.

Nest-Hair yelped out loud, arms and legs flailing as he scrambled to find what had awakened him so rudely. He was louder than some of the loudest calls Blaze had ever heard from his fellow porgs, and it hurt his ears, but Blaze held his ground, claws digging into Nest-Hair’s scalp as he yanked the tuft of hair back again. 

Soft-Hand entered the room just in time to see Nest-Hair grab him by the wing and fling him across the room.

———————————————————————————————

Blaze was in a good mood today. It had been days since he last saw Nest-Hair near the metal bird, even if Soft-Hand left their shared home a little more often and for longer periods of time. She was still around to give them little tidbits of food in the evenings, or sometimes a bit of moss for their nests, but for most of the day she would be nowhere to be found. Blaze wondered what took up so much of her time, but let it slide. He could always take care of himself when needed, anyway.

He preened his wing feathers, thinking about what he should do for the day. Perhaps a little snack from the nearby lake would be nice. 

Of course, as luck would have it, when Blaze arrived at the lake a few minutes later, there Nest-Hair sat at its shore, holding a sort of really straight metal branch that reminded Blaze of the wooden ones the white-robed hut dwellers used instead of claws and teeth to catch fish back on the islands. 

His feathers had changed, Blaze noticed. The only black on Nest-Hair now was the boots, still the same pair as the one he had at their first encounter. Aside from those boots, black had been replaced with white and dark moss-green, draped majestically behind Nest-Hair’s seated figure.

Despite the much calmer colours on him, Nest-Hair still had that angry shark face about him, but somehow angrier, complete with quiet growling as he focused solely on the metal branch and the thin string on its end.

Blaze landed some distance away, quietly waddling forward in case Nest-Hair spotted him. There was a little bucket next to Nest-Hair, but upon reaching it Blaze could see that there was only one little fish in it barely any bigger than his leg — no wonder he seemed so upset. Maybe if he caught an extra one for him he wouldn’t be so angry at everything all the time.

As Blaze turned to stealthily waddle away, his foot hit the bucket, causing the water inside to slosh a little.

Nest-Hair turned his head so quickly that it startled Blaze to the point that he almost failed to dodge the hand shooting out to grab him. “Blasted pest, stealing my fish, are you?”

Blaze reeled at the accusation, shooting off a string of squawks in indignation, before diving into the water, quite done with spending his energy shouting at the impossibly tall human.

He resurfaced a little while later to see Soft-Hand talking to Nest-Hair. He didn’t seem so angry with her, more like one of Blaze’s porg friends on a bad day than an all-devouring shark, and Blaze wondered if there was just something about Soft-Hand that made people a little happier around her.

Still, Blaze thought, the speechless expression on Nest-Hair’s face when he presented the large fish clamped in his mouth to the orange-haired man was a better look on him.

———————————————————————————————

Blaze startled awake to loud noises.

Concerned that an intruder had invaded the metal bird they called home, Blaze quickly looked around the little dark corner where he and his fellow porgs slept. His mate Cottontail was still fast asleep beside him, and so was uncle Crow and his family a little further away. Puffy and Snappy were in their corners, while Dita was the only one awake, softly crowing her concern. Apparently, the noises had started a while ago, but she didn’t think she could fight whatever made them.

Blaze nodded, keeping his head low and wings spread behind him ready to fly as he slowly approached the little hole that led to the larger interior of the metal bird.

When nothing darted for him as he poked his head out, Blaze hopped fully into the brightly lit area. The noises were definitely louder now, and getting closer. It seemed like it was indeed coming from the direction of the big door separating the inside of the metal bird from the outside. Now that he thought about it, the sound seemed awfully familiar.

Blaze flapped his wings, propelling himself up onto the table. As he caught sight of dark green, the sounds became clearer.

“That pile of rusted bolts could fall on me at any moment! It could fall on  _ you _ at any moment, for kriff’s sake! Not to mention the pests—”

Blaze bristled at the sharp tone of Nest-Hair’s voice, but his anger-fuelled vigour extinguished itself for worry as Soft-Hand’s voice joined it, equally sharp and incensed.

“The Falcon is in perfect working condition, if you haven’t noticed, and the porgs are certainly not pests. In fact, if you would be a little nicer to them for once you’d find that they can be very helpful little creatures! But no, first one you see you decide to punt him across the room. No wonder nobody liked you.”

Nest-Hair jolted, baring his teeth slightly and narrowing his eyes. Silence cut through the air, and Blaze instinctively tucked himself into a ball. He only allowed himself the smallest peek, worried that anything more would make the tense Nest-Hair finally burst into fangs and fire. Instead, he straightened up, breathing heavily, then turned around and stormed back outside.

Blaze turned to look at Soft-Hand as her companion’s heavy stomps echoed through the room. He uncurled from his defensive position, waddling cautiously towards his human friend who slumped onto the couch. He hopped onto her knee, chirruping softly in a comforting song.

Soft-Hand smiled sadly at him, stroking behind his ears the way he liked it. “I’m sorry if he scared you,” she said. “I think I was too harsh on him there, but he can’t go complaining about everything all the time. Look at you, you’re a friendly little bird, and I’ve tried to be nice to him but he just never lets anyone get close to him.” She cups her hands together, allowing Blaze to hop in and let her carry him back to the porgs’ corner. “Maybe I should give him some more time.”

There was a sadness in Soft-Hand’s eyes, even as she placed him down gently before getting back up and going down the other hallway further into the metal bird. Not so much the crying sad, but the sort of sad that reminded Blaze of how he felt when he first met Cottontail, all alone with no other porgs to spend time with just because she looked strange with her poofed up feathers.

He looked back at the exit. Was Nest-Hair like Cottontail? The little porg shook his head vigorously at the thought. Cottontail wasn’t mean to other porgs the way Nest-Hair was. But maybe he was as lonely as she used to be.

The thought alone was enough for Blaze to decide what to do next.

He hopped to his feet, flapped his wings, and flew down the exit.

———————————————————————————————

Blaze found Nest-Hair exactly where he thought the fiery-haired human might be — the shore of the lake where they had last met. Instead of catching fish with his metal branch, however, Nest-Hair simply sat by the water on a flat rock, curled up with his arms and head resting on raised knees brought towards his chest.

Senses apparently still sharp as ever despite his low mood, Nest-Hair shifted his head slightly to look at Blaze as the little porg hopped up next to him. Blaze tensed, ready to dodge any attack, but none came.

“Come to have the last laugh?” he asked instead, in a quiet voice barely audible over the crickets of the night. “Imagine that, a bird laughing at what was once a proud General of the First Order. How far I have fallen,” he chuckled weakly. “Did you know that, little one? That I used to lead ships many times larger and more well-equipped than that bucket of rusted bolts? Now look at me — huddled up beside a lake and talking to a bird because I’ve just angered the only person in the Resistance who will even talk to me.”

Blaze didn’t know what the First Order or the Resistance was, but he at least understood that Soft-Hand must have been Nest-Hair’s only friend, and he’d just made her angry. He waddled forward, trying to comfort Nest-Hair. He remembered the big hairy giant patting Soft-Hand’s shoulder once when she was crying over something, but Blaze figured that Nest-Hair wouldn’t like him climbing up his shoulder, so the porg settled for patting his leg instead.

This made Nest-Hair look up, fully lifting his head from his arms and knees. “Are you trying to comfort me?”

Blaze nodded, to which Nest-Hair started to laugh. Not a happy laugh, Blaze noticed, as the orange-haired man’s body contorted in on itself again.

“That sorry excuse of a father was right. I am pathetic. Pathetic enough that I have to be comforted by a bird. How’s that for a laugh beyond the grave.”

Pathetic? Blaze didn’t think that was true at all, and he made his point known with a loud squawk.

“See? You think so, too.”

No he didn’t! Blaze squawked even louder, furiously flapping his wings and nipping at Nest-Hair’s ankle, to which the human yelped and jerked back his leg in reflex.

“Okay, okay, fine. You apparently think I’m not pathetic?” 

Blaze tucked his wings back to his side, and bobbed his head once.

“Alright then, oh wise little bird—” Nest-Hair extended his hand towards Blaze, seemingly offering a bridge up to his shoulder. “What do you think I should do?”

Blaze thought that Nest-Hair should go back to the metal bird, talk to Soft-Hair, and apologise. Of course, how he was going to tell him that was another story altogether. Blaze decided to start with the big metal bird, alternating between flapping his wings and pointing in the direction of the metal bird.

“You want me to go back to that ship?”

Elated, Blaze bobbed his head. Now for Soft-Hand. Blaze squawked once, but then paused, wondering what gestures he could use to indicate her. Eventually, he settled for outstretched wings to symbolise her hands and smoothing back his head feathers the way Soft-Hand often petted him.

Nest-Hair simply looked at Blaze for a few seconds, perhaps trying to figure out what the little bird meant. “You want me to talk to Rose.”

Rose. Was he talking about Soft-Hand? Blaze bobbed once.

“She won’t want to talk to me. Not after I’ve upset her like that.”

Blaze toppled face flat to the ground, exasperated with gloomy Nest-Hair’s gloomy talk. After two seconds, Blaze hopped back to his feet, flying up to the top of his head and yanking a tuft of orange in frustration.

Nest-Hair yelped, his hands grappling for the little porg. “Ack! Alright, fine, you win! I’ll go back to her.”

Satisfied, Blaze let go of Nest-Hair’s hair, snuggling into the comfortable platform as the human hauled himself to his feet. “Are you intending on staying there, little bird?”

Blaze sent out a happy chirp in reply, and ten minutes later he chirped again to greet Soft-Hand as the unlikely duo returned to the metal bird.

Blaze left Nest-Hair’s comfortable head as Soft-Hand started laughing, eager to get home to his own nest with Cottontail. 

It wasn’t long before he heard Nest-Hair’s laughter join hers.

A good, happy, smiling laugh.

———————————————————————————————

**Three Years Later**

Blaze flew up to the lake, scanning the surroundings for his family. Cottontail had not been at their nest when he had come home with his catch of the day, and their new porglets had just started to fly a little. The porglets were also rather adventurous and tended to wander around, which often worried Blaze. Today, he couldn’t even find a tiny feather from them anywhere around the metal bird.

As he flew along the lake, Blaze spotted a flash of orange against a nearby tree. Nest-Hair had seated himself leaning against it while Soft-Hand seemed to sleep peacefully against his shoulder.

As Blaze approached them, he finally spotted his own mate snuggled under Soft-Hand’s arm, draped over the human’s big, round belly. Their twin porglets were nestled in smaller hands belonging to Nest-Hair and Soft-Hand’s humanlet, all three sleeping soundly in Nest-Hair’s lap with one of his arms draped protectively over them.

Nest-Hair was the only one awake, extending his free hand towards his now near-constant companion. “Hello, little friend,” he greeted softly, so as to not wake the humanlet in his arms. “We brought your family out for a little walk at their insistence. I hope you don’t mind.”

Blaze supposed it was alright if his family was with Nest-Hair and Soft-Hand. Cottontail and the porglets would always be safe with the two humans, in his opinion. He nuzzled the offered hand in greeting, then hopped up Nest-Hair’s arm to his shoulder and flew the remaining distance to the top of his head.

He heard Nest-Hair chuckle underneath him. “You seem to like my hair very much, even back when we didn’t get along,” he mused. “I wonder why.”

It was soft and comfy, Blaze chirped back, but he received no reply.

Happily snuggling in, Blaze joined his friend in his afternoon nap.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed little Blaze, there is more of him in the form of sketches and drawings at #DailySupportPorg on Twitter, or my Twitter profile @ShadowRenWrites for you to enjoy along with other Reylo and Gingerrose art.
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
